May ballot is now final

The field of hopefuls for public office is filled out for 2012, as the filing period ended Wednesday at noon with a small rush to get names on the Wayne County ballot.

Former Goldsboro City Councilman William Goodman filed for election to the District 3 seat on the council now held by Don Chatman, who has announced he will not run again. Goodman will face Ben Farlow in May.

In the District 1 race for the City Council, Kyle Pritchard filed for the seat held by Michael Headon, who has filed for re-election.

Gene Aycock filed for the District 6 seat on the council. Fran Kasey announced for the position a day earlier. It is being vacated by outgoing council member Jackie Warrick.

That means there will be races for all the seats on the city council except two: Chuck Allen faces no opposition in District 5 and Bill Broadaway faces no challenger in District 2. Starr Whitmore, Clark Tondalayo are looking to unseat the Rev. Charles Williams in District 4.

In the race for mayor, incumbent Al King faces challenges from Henry Jinnette and D.A. Stuart.

All municipal races are non-partisan, as is the race for the Wayne County School Board.

In that race, incumbent board member Len Henderson added his name to list of candidates as well. He is running for re-election to the at-large seat on the school board and will face Eddie Radford.

Other school board races will pit Ven Faulk against Dwight Cannon in District 2 and Charles Wright against incumbent Thelma Smith in District 3.

Races at the state level also got a little more complicated on Wednesday. Tony Moore of Winterville filed as a Democrat against Democrat Don Davis for the District 5 seat in the state Senate. The district includes all of Greene County, the northern part of Pitt County and an arm of land reaching into Wayne from the east as far as Goldsboro and Mount Olive.

Incumbent Republican Louis Pate was the only candidate to file for the District 7 seat in the state Senate. He currently holds the District 5 seat, but the lines for all legislative districts were redrawn by the Republican majority based on numbers from the last census. District 7 now includes most of rural Wayne County, the lower two-thirds of Lenoir and the southern half of Pitt.

Deloris Kennedy of Mount Olive, a Democrat, filed for the District 4 seat in the state House, which includes most of the county. Republicans Efton Sager and Jimmy Dixon and Libertarian Kevin Hayes also are seeking the seat. The district was redrawn, putting both incumbent Republicans Sager and Dixon in the same district and forcing a runoff.

In the race for state House District 10, incumbent Republican Steven LaRoque of Kinston will face John Bell of Goldsboro in the GOP primary. The winner will run against Democrat Jim Hardison of Kinston. The district might be the most gerrymandered in the state. It includes the northernmost tier of Wayne County, several outer edges of Greene, creeps around the edges of eastern and western Lenoir to take in the southern part of that county and then reaches an arm as far east as New Bern.

Democrat Larry Bell was assured of another term in House District 21, as no one in either party filed to oppose him.

Two Wayne County commissioners are assured of re-election. Incumbent Republican Steve Keen was the only candidate to file in District 4 and incumbent Republican John Bell was the only person to file for the District 3 seat.

In District 1, Republicans Jeff Pearsall and James Beckwith will challenge incumbent Republican Ray Mayo, who was appointed to the board last year upon the retirement of Andy Anderson. In District 2, Republican Kenny Talton is taking on incumbent Democrat J.D. Evans. In District 5, incumbent Democrat Roland "Bud" Gray faces a challenge from Republicans Bill Pate and Jeff Jennings. In the at-large race, incumbent Commissioner Sandra McCullen is being challenged by Republican Wayne Aycock.

Coram Constance filed to run against incumbent Lois Mooring for the Wayne County Register of Deeds. Both are Democrats.

The only district court judge to face a challenge is Lonnie Carraway of Snow Hill. He is being opposed by Erika James and Annette Turik.

Judges David Brantly, Les Turner, Charles Gaylor and Tim Finan have no opposition.

In Fremont, Leroy Ruffin and and Darron Flowers will compete for mayor and Brenda Hicks and Leon Mooring will square off for the District 2 seat.

In Mount Olive, James Mayo is opposing incumbent Ray McDonald and Joe Scott and Ray Thompson are both seeking the at-large seat.